Now

Last updated 10 August 2026

Updated: 10th August 2026:
Here's what I'm currently working on...

This is a now page.

Security studies I'm reading for a Masters in Security Studies. After almost 15 years out of academia it's been an absolute slap in the face to be back, and last semester nearly killed me, but I came through it quite well, and now I'm looking forward to the second semester in which we'll be going deep into the history of the discipline.
AI safety The international relations degree gave me the state-level view; the intelligence and security studies are giving me the machinery underneath it. Between them they've left me with a fairly specific worry, and it isn't robots. It's that we are losing the ability to agree on what is true, and a society that can't agree on what's true can't agree on what to do next, which is how societies come apart. I spent a career in persuasion, so I've had a front row seat while comparatively primitive systems degraded public trust, split families, and pulled people to opposing poles, mostly by accident, mostly because they were funded by an ad model that optimises for outrage. Point something far more capable at the same target and I don't think we get a slower version of that problem. I'd rather understand the mechanism properly than just be worried about it, so I'm reading, building, and working out where someone with my particular mix of experience is actually useful.
The book My first attempt at a book slowed, stalled and then ground to a halt about a year ago. Thankfully I was far enough in that I owe it to the characters not to leave them stranded in that burning tower. Recently the impulse to write has returned and the characters are still waiting for me. I'm very excited to get the gang back together.
Client work I'm working with one marketing client, and as I write this I'm hoping another will come on board. I genuinely thought my marketing days were behind me, that I'd lost the love and lost the flair, but it's refreshing working with local businesses and feeling like I'm in a position to help them. Hopefully the extra funds that come from this second job can pave the way to more time to study, and more time to write the book. Let's see.
Digital Independence This is an ongoing project in which I am reclaiming my online data, de-linking myself and the ownership of my data and online presence from big tech, and teaching myself with the help of AI to code, self-host and build and maintain what I need to be a self-sufficient online citizen. This website is a big part of that project, and it's certainly become MUCH more than a project.
SOAHK A strange, slowly decaying web project. Not up and running yet, pure AI hobby status, but interested to see where it winds up. Or rather, where it unwinds to.